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Indian Bioinformatics tools going global
Indian Bioinformatics market is about Rs 100 crore
Biotech companies are setting up bioinformatics cells
Biosuppliers are entering the bioinformatics space
Government initiatives to support the segment

The Indian bioinformatics market closed the year at about Rs 100 crore, of which about 40 percent is from the local market and rest from exports. This includes Rs 25 crore from sales of real bioinformatics products/ tools. Last year it was pegged at about Rs 70 crore. Considering the opportunity, it is expected to grow to $120 million (Rs 530 crores) by 2006 and likely to take a major pie in the global bioinformatics sector in next few years. India?s entry into the product patent regime in 2005 has really boosted the bioinformatics sector in 2004-05. Many leading Indian pharmaceutical companies are investing on R&D to take an early lead in this new patent regime.

At present there are about 45 companies in this space mainly based in southern cities like Bangalore, the IT capital of India, Chennai and Hyderabad. About 20 percent of them are based in Delhi and a few in Pune, the knowledge center. Of these about 35 companies are actually involved in developing bioinformatics tools and products while the rest are into marketing of the tools. In addition to Indian companies, multinationals like Accelrys (a subsidiary of Pharmacopeia), Tripos are also in this space with direct presence in India. The big IT companies like Infosys, Cognizant Technologies are offering bioinformatics services while IBM, Sun Micro Systems, Intel are providing the hardwares.

With the changing scenario in the global market, many small and medium companies have either closed or joined hands with leading companies in the same space or with biosuppliers who are into marketing of equipments/products to biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. One can expect the same trend in India also as companies like Agilent, Thermo Electron, Bio-Rad are entering this space. Consolidation will become the new mantra in the years to come.

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